Interview: Gulp

Published on June 7th, 2012 | Jonny Abrams

Guto Pryce is not just one fifth of one of our greatest modern day bands – he is also one of the finest and most well-respected bassists going, as his recent moonlighting with Sonic Boom and Mark Fry will testify to. Now he has teamed up with Scottish singer Lindsey Leven to form Gulp, whose splendidly sultry first single “Game Love” is available on white vinyl 7″ with B-side “Diamonds in the Sky” (click here to order your copy), so Rocksucker fired some questions over to the pair in order to find out a little bit more about the project…and of course slip in a couple of Super Furry Animals fan boy questions for good measure.

First, though, get an earful of Guardian pick of the week “Game Love” – SFA aficionados should instantly recognise those deliciously reverby bass plinks – and psych yourself up for more of this loveliness in the not-too-distant future…

What prompted the formation of Gulp?

A shared love of music and travel made it the obvious choice.

How do you split the songwriting up, and who plays what on the recordings?

It’s very much a collaborative thing. One will write a song and the other will take it apart and reconstruct until we’re both happy. Both of us get involved with synths and bleeps. We grab the services of friends when recording. Daf from SFA helped us out on drums and Cian mixed the new single whilst local prodigy Gareth Bonello played guitar and cello on “Game Love”.

Is there a full album in the works? If so, can you say yet when it might be released, and what we can expect from it?

Yes, we’re making an album that will be ready by next year. Expect something along the lines of an electro-kraut-psych-folk record.

Will you be playing live shows?

Yep! We’ll be up on the Isle of Eigg playing at Fence Collective’s Away Game in July. We’re really excited about that. We’ll be making some announcements about other gigs soon. Our good pal Gid Goundrey is playing guitar with us.

Is this a one-off project or something you can see continuing?

It would be nice to make a pile of records and play a pile of shows.

Are there any other musical duos that you took your lead from?

Sly and Robbie.

Gulp… Swallow for your summer

For Linds…

Is your solo music available online anywhere?

No. I did make an EP once, maybe I’ll dust it down one day!

How long have you been making and recording music for? Who or what are your primary musical influences?

I’ve always dabbled and sang bits and bobs for friends bands but it’s only fairly recently that I got around to writing and recording my own stuff. When I was growing up there was always background tunes in the house. My folks would play Neil Young, Leonard Cohen and The Beach Boys or some Scottish folk like Silly Wizard or The Incredible String Band, which have all been an influence of sorts alongside the beauty and mystery of life.

What’s Guto like to work with?

Amazing! I’m sure anyone who has enjoyed his company will agree. We’re both fairly laid back people and this makes for a nice vibe.

If you had to spend the rest of your life with just the back catalogues of five different recording artists, whose would you choose?

I always find this difficult! I feel so happy to hear new sounds every day and I find it exciting that there is always so much to discover. However: Sandy Denny, Gorkys Zygotic Mynci, Air, Brian Eno, Angelo Badalamenti.

For Guto…

Have you heard much of Cian’s and Bunf’s albums? If so, what do you think of them?

Yes indeed. I played on both of them. Both are fantastic.

Have you seen a lot of each other going in and out of the studio? Do you know if Daf’s planning another Peth album, or indeed anything else?

We see each other about in Cardiff. Daf’s currently working on a project called The Earth with some super talented people.

How did playing with Sonic Boom and Mark Fry both come about? How did they go? Have you had any other offers of this kind?

Sonic came to some Furry gigs and we became friends. He needed a bass player for a European tour so I joined them. I’m a huge fan of his so it was a pleasure to play those songs. It was a great experience of disciplined psychedelic music. I got to play with Mark Fry through a mutual mr fixit friend called Glenn Max. Again, a pleasure and I hope we’ll do some more shows.

Will there be a 10th Super Furry Animals album, and if so have you discussed when you might start working on it and/or what kind of direction it might take?

Yes, no, I’m sure it’ll be the right direction.

Which SFA song that never gets played live would you liked to have inserted into the set if you’d had your own way?

“Dim Bendith”

If you had to spend the rest of your life with just the back catalogues of five different recording artists, whose would you choose?